Major cut in waiting times for heart patients at QEH
WAITING times for patients needing diagnosis for heart problems at Lynn's Queen Elizabeth Hospital have been slashed – from six months to just five weeks.
And bosses have set themselves a target to reduce the wait for echocardiography even further by next March, down to two weeks.
The dramatic reduction in waiting times has been made possible thanks to the opening of a second scanning room in the cardio/respiratory department, rearranging appointment lists and staff rotas and working more closely with local GPs.
The QEH deals with around 3,500 patients a year needing heart diagnosis and in November 2005 waiting times were more than six months, and there was a backlog of 530 patients.
A year later the waiting time had been reduced to ten weeks, and now even this has been halved.
The department’s chief technician, Jane McQuade, told the Lynn News: “We needed to find a way of increasing our capacity for seeing patients. We had two echocardiography machines but only one scanning room.
“It was a question of finding ways of making more efficient use of our resources, so we converted an additional room and reconfigured the way we handle our patient lists.
“By doing this we have managed to reduce waiting times from 26 weeks to five weeks – and we intend to reduce this even further by the spring.
“We are determined to give patients in this area the highest level of service possible.”
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Weather for King's Lynn
Sunday 27 May 2012
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Temperature: 10 C to 25 C
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